The world of microprocessors is dominated by Intel with secondary players like AMD coming in far behind. Intel helped to usher in the era of the netbook with its wildly popular Atom line of CPUs and still has little in the way of competition.

Intel has announced that it sees the netbook market shifting. The company said that it no longer expects netbooks to appeal to first-time buyers. Intel says that it sees netbooks as a secondary computer for users or an option for kids needing their first computer.

Intel's Sean Maloney said at a media event, "I don't think first-time buyers are going to buy netbooks. The first time you buy something you want the real deal. It's consistent not just in China, but all around the world. If you're going to spend your hard-earned money for the first time, you're going to put a computer in your house."

Maloney said that he doesn't see the trend of netbook sales changing soon. The machines have traditionally sold to users with one or two PCs in the home already. He also adds that the market for kids 7-11 years old is underserved. Disney for instance is offering a netbook for kids that is festooned with Disney characters and software right out of the box.

EWeek reports that Q2 revenues for Atom processors and chipsets spiked 65% from the first quarter to $362 million. This was also the quarter where Intel had to pay the massive EU fine, which it is appealing. Intel also still maintains that netbooks will allow new people to be introduced to computing, which is particularly important in emerging markets. Netbooks, according to Maloney, are now a well-established market.

He said, "There is a new category established. That category is, to an extent, maturing. It is not so much in the early phases."

Much of the netbook focus isn't on the U.S. market with the economy still in a recession. Intel says that it sees the economy in areas like India and Brazil improving.

He says, "If you are dependent on the U.S. consumer, or U.S. business alone, obviously you are in one box. If you are global, you're in another. There are a number of countries, Brazil included, that actually seem to be coming back pretty quickly."

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AMD is avoiding the "netbook" market. They do have some new CPUs in the channel for ultra-mobile notebooks. They want to actually give people some bang for their buck while Intel does things differently. They give you crap and then when they finally come out with something better they expect you to spend more money on that. Smarter marketing but worse for the consumer. AMD's marketing has always been their major downfall. When was the last time you saw AMD ads?

When AMD had a better product Athlon x2 days Intel had so many ads and now that they are in the lead again I don't see many ads for them either. AMD needs better marketing if they want to get out of the hole they're in. Having a better product alone won't get you to the top.

AMD has some great CPUs and some great technology, but they're not executing well at all.

At it's size Intel should not be so much more nimble than AMD... but they ARE. Intel is executing their business almost flawlessly. I have always been a fan of AMD, but I have to admit that Intel is handing them their arses, and it's not just a matter of more money. This is a management issue. If AMD had technology that was similar and the management to predict, understand, and enter emerging markets quickly AND market themselves well, they would do well despite Intel's competition.

The Barton core was the best. After that it was a step backwards. I can't remember now, but I think it had more cache than the models that followed it, even though it was on a larger process. All I know is that both my parents have barton core XP's running that have been through a few motherboards each.

Barton was the last of the K7 Athlon line.Barton doubled the L2 cache to 512. I dont remember if there was anything else different. [Maybe 90nm vs 130?]The Hammer (Claw/Sledge) Opteron and Athlon 64 (K8) were the next ones after Barton.